jjmccullough's Formspring answers http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me 60
In the long-term, Canada would likely become a much more conservative country, so I think the most vivid consequences would probably be political.]]> http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/295611596560933998 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/295611596560933998 Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:34:56 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/295023707875718714 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/295023707875718714 Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:38:53 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/294380037770058383 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/294380037770058383 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:01:10 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/293642557672398283 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/293642557672398283 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:10:41 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/293642465540312411 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/293642465540312411 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:10:19 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/293642014971410147 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/293642014971410147 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:08:31 -0500 jjmccullough
I believe in Africa there has been a president or two who was a former king of some abolished tribal monarchy, but that might not "count" in the same way.]]> http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/292560921404902855 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/292560921404902855 Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:32:39 -0500 jjmccullough
It's not necessarily a racist thing, but I think a lot of Anglo-American conservatives assume that the plague of bad government in places like Africa and the Middle East is in large part due to the imperial powers leaving too early, and not finishing the civilizing job they began. As opposed to, say, India, where they did, and would be viewed as more of a success story as a result. The whole neo-con "remake the Middle East" has a strong theme of imperial apologism inherent in it.]]> http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/292558941328516296 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/292558941328516296 Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:24:47 -0500 jjmccullough
Under George W. Bush and Obama I imagine things would have gone more or less the same as they have in the real world, assuming Putin became head of the USSR. Which is to say, worsening relations and fear of a Russian reemergence as a troublemaking world power. I guess the Republicans would probably use this as a much bigger talking point than they do now, though. Soviet-Islamic relations would probably be viewed with more suspicion and paranoia, and who knows, maybe the whole War on Terror would be viewed through some sort of neo-Cold War paradigm.

It's a hard question to answer, of course, because so much really depends on what kind of people would be leading the USSR. I do think overall, however, that the world would be a very similar place. I've been reading more stuff from the 1980s recently and even the analysts who were assuming the USSR would survive for many decades to come were all generally of the opinion that the country would basically never be the same again thanks to Gorbachev.]]> http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/292556726090082614 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/292556726090082614 Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:15:58 -0500 jjmccullough
I imagine they would have kept slavery until the early 20th century, and then instituted some manner of apartheid system to legally inshrine a permanent racial hierarchy. They might have been super-eager participants in both world wars (due to what I assume would be strengthened British ties) or they might be strong isolationists. During the Cold War they would be anti-Communist, but also an unpopular and isolated from other western democracies, and would probably build their own nuclear weapon. I could see full US-CSA relations not formally resuming until the 1950s or so.

Cut off from the US, the CSA would probably have a significantly smaller population than the modern south and be fairly backwards and poor, with an economy kept overly reliant on agriculture and industry as a result of the prolonged presence of slavery and cheap black labour. Canada and the US would probably be much closer to each other than they even are now. US politics would be significantly more left-wing and European, and the imagined differences between Canada and the US would be far slighter due to the absence of a conservative south.

A very interesting thought experiment.]]> http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/290734791312027734 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/290734791312027734 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:36:15 -0500 jjmccullough
In all cases, however, what made these movements successful was that they had multiple wings; there was a "street marching" wing, but also a political wing, a media wing, a social wing, etc. I think a lot of today's professed protest movements are very lazy and unserious for the simple reason that they're not interested in engaging in activism on the required multiple levels. More often than not, today's protestors just want to complain, as opposed to actually do the hard work that's required to implement their agenda.]]> http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/288947760332291774 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/288947760332291774 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:15:14 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/288945482460301706 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/288945482460301706 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:06:11 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/285309290770597434 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/285309290770597434 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:17:15 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/285308657699137734 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/285308657699137734 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:14:44 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284555731980521279 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284555731980521279 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:22:53 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284555601676082834 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284555601676082834 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:22:22 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284555305889572694 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284555305889572694 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:21:11 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284554795904145933 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284554795904145933 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:19:10 -0500 jjmccullough http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284554450993940508 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/284554450993940508 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:17:47 -0500 jjmccullough
I think the non-con term idea is pretty good. Sometimes it requires a break before you know if you really want to continue or not.]]> http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/283655801413841159 http://www.formspring.me/jjmccullough/q/283655801413841159 Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:46:53 -0500 jjmccullough